S. 420 · 117th Congress

Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2021

Introduced on Feb 24, 2021 by Patty Murray (D-WA). 46 cosponsors, all from the sponsor's party. Latest action (Jun 22, 2022): Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Hearings held.

Stage
Introduced
Introduced
Feb 24, 2021
Cosponsors
46
0 from the other party
Policy area
Labor and Employment
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. 2Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

A bill to amend the National Labor Relations Act, the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, and the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • Administrative law and regulatory procedures
  • Administrative remedies
  • Civil actions and liability
  • Congressional oversight
  • Employee benefits and pensions
  • Employment discrimination and employee rights
  • Government studies and investigations
  • Health care costs and insurance
  • Judicial review and appeals
  • Labor-management relations
  • National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
  • Wages and earnings
  • Worker safety and health

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in Senate, Feb 24, 2021). Public domain.

Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2021

This bill expands various labor protections related to employees' rights to organize and collectively bargain in the workplace.

Among other things, it revises the definitions of employee, supervisor, and employer to broaden the scope of individuals covered by the fair labor standards; permits labor organizations to encourage participation of union members in strikes initiated by employees represented by a different labor organization (i.e., secondary strikes); and prohibits employers from bringing claims against unions that conduct such secondary strikes.

The bill also allows collective bargaining agreements to require all employees represented by the bargaining unit to contribute fees to the labor organization for the cost of such representation, notwithstanding a state law to the contrary; and expands unfair labor practices to include prohibitions against replacement of, or discrimination against, workers who participate in strikes.

The bill makes it an unfair labor practice to require or coerce employees to attend employer meetings designed to discourage union membership and prohibits employers from entering into agreements with employees under which employees waive the right to pursue or a join collective or class-action litigation.

Finally, the bill addresses the procedures for union representation elections, modifies the protections against unfair labor practices that result in serious economic harm, and establishes penalties and permits injunctive relief against entities that fail to comply with National Labor Relations Board orders.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Patty MurrayD-WASponsor

Democrats · 43

Independents · 3

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Feb 24, 2021Introduced in Senate
  2. Feb 24, 2021 · SenateRead twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  3. Mar 16, 2022 · SenateCommittee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Hearings held.
  4. Jun 22, 2022 · SenateCommittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Hearings held.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. BRIDGESTONE AMERICAS INC.5 reports
    $1.6M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: BRIDGESTONE AMERICAS TIRE OPERATIONS, LLCAI match · 99%
  2. International Warehouse Logistics Association5 reports
    $250K reported (all issues)
  3. NATIONAL CONFECTIONERS ASSOCIATION5 reports
  4. National Retail Federation5 reports
    $10.4M reported (all issues)
  5. QVC, INC.5 reports
    $1.1M reported (all issues)
  6. LYFT, INC.1 report
    $410K reported (all issues)

Reports filed in 2023, 2024.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.